


Ours

by lahijadelmar



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Detectives, F/M, Friendship, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-07-26
Packaged: 2018-07-12 13:04:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7104715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lahijadelmar/pseuds/lahijadelmar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i> "What’d you suppose the odds were of you taking down Skinny and his boys on your lonesome?” “Huh. Never thought to calculate. I have a gun and a mother’s determination. Some say that’s enough.” Nick smirked for the first time and she forgot, for a split second, that he was a robot."</i>  Some defining moments in Nick and Margot's friendship, turned partnership, turned romance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Given that we kind of watch the story play out with Sole and Companion in-game, there's not a ton of room for expansion or creativity. I wanted to add more to Nick and Margot's story, however, so I did similar to my Hancock/Victoria story and made a 'moments in time' collection of vignettes, important little moments that we wouldn't have seen in-game. 
> 
> I'm very certain I wanted to write a NSFW follow-up chapter to this, but I thought I'd do it separate from the rest of the work for those of you that don't want unleaded Robot Detective sin.

_“I love the irony of the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario. Question is, why did our heroine risk life and limb for an old private eye?”_

What had she been expecting? Well, _not_ a robot, certainly. At least...that’s what she assumed he was. She’d been in this world long enough now to know things weren’t even remotely the same as they had been, that she needed to be prepared for anything...a robot detective talking as clearly and with as much personality as a full-blown human was still just a bit out of her realm. As with all things though, she would adjust.

Let it never be said Margot didn’t have tact; she knew better than to ask him for an explanation of what he was. Robot, human or something else besides, everyone deserved respect.

She was also very honest and very straightforward when she could be, not appreciating vagueness any more than outright lying.

“My son’s gone missing. I was told you could help me find him.”

“So, it’s a missing person’s case then. No shortage of those these days…” He lit a cigarette. Margot wondered if it was for taste or habit. “Tell you what. You get us out of here alive, I’ll do the job pro bono.”  

“ _Deal_. No time to waste, Mr. Valentine.”

It was generous of him, considering especially that she probably hadn’t near the amount of currency needed to pay for his services. _Bottlecaps_ was it? How many of those had she tossed thoughtlessly into the recycling before?

Then again, anticipating such a change in the norm long enough to hoard away Nuka Cola caps would’ve been impossible. Life was strange.

 

* * *

 

“Look at that Commonwealth sky. Never thought anything so naturally ominous could end up looking so inviting…”

He lit another cigarette the moment they’d escaped the subway tunnel turned vault, almost as if they’d just had a leisurely lunch. The bloodstains on her vault suit, however, told a different story. All she could really think was _thank god_ Nate had taught her to how to hold and use a gun, the basics of evasion. This wasn’t the sort of thing they briefed anyone on in law school.

“Thanks for getting me out. How’d you know where to find me, anyway? Not many people knew where I went.”

With things having calmed down and her breath and heartbeat almost back to normal, Margot found herself taking an odd solace in the familiarity of Nick. Obviously it wasn’t his appearance that provided that, nor the fact that she had met him before (impossible anyway, right?) but how reminiscent he was to the weathered old Boston cops she would occasionally see or speak to for a case. It was a comfort she hadn’t expected to find in a stranger, some lingering reminder of her life before. Even now it sometimes felt like it had only been a dream.

“It was all Ellie. I came by in hope of engaging your services and she pointed me down this way.”

“ _Well_. A lesser person would’ve given up about then. What’d you suppose the odds were of you taking down Skinny and his boys on your lonesome?”

“Huh. Never thought to calculate. I have a gun and a mother’s determination. Some say that’s enough.”

Nick smirked for the first time and she forgot, for a split second, that he was a robot.

“So it would seem. Well, Missus, uh-...”

“Dupont, but Margot’s fine.”

“Alright. How about we head back to my office and discuss this further? I guess you know it’s in Diamond City, some ways away. We’d be better off sticking together, but I understand if you’re more the lone wolf type.”

Despite the fact that she hadn’t given a straight answer they’d already begun the trek back, walking side by side. Nick had a point, anyway, and Margot for all of her independence could’ve done with a bit of human companionship. Or- well...someone that could do more than bark, anyway. Nothing against Dogmeat.

* * *

 

“You did a hell of a thing for me back there, Nick.”

They shared a bench just beside the Goodneighbor state house, far enough away from the collective rabble that was the dinner crowd. Even as Mrs. Dupont seemed grateful for the rations (no telling what was in them) she needed her solace after getting her hands dirty in Kellogg’s brain. Somehow, Nick still fit comfortably by her side. The rate in which the two of them were finding themselves tethered together maybe should have worried him a bit more, but then again...he’d never met someone from his time that wasn’t a time-weathered, cynical ghoul. She was pure of heart in the way people really couldn’t afford to be anymore; her seemingly indestructible sense of hope was just the kind of inspiration he’d been needing lo these two centuries.

Maybe that’s why he had come this far with her already.

“Well, we weren’t gonna get anywhere if I refused. If there’s one thing I hate it’s having to leave cases wide open. I’ve got cold ones going back decades that still haunt me at night.”

She laughed a little but he could still sense that look of concern that had accompanied her from the Memory Den, ever since a stray imprint of Kellogg’s had reared its ugly head.

“You don’t need to worry,” he said, taking another drag from his cigarette. “It was just a hiccup, I’m sure.”    

“Kellogg I can handle- obviously. It’s _you_ I’m worried about. I’ve already noticed, you have a tendency to downplay the worst when it comes to what ails you. I know because I do the same thing.”

That she would give a damn at all given everything that had to be on her mind touched him, even if he wouldn’t say so. He chuckled at her acute sense of intuition.

“Perception like that would make for a good Private Eye. Maybe Ellie was on to something offering you the position.”

“I think Ellie’s got perception too, at least so far as seeing you lonely.”

“Caught on to that too, did you?” He wouldn’t lie, her words hit a nerve, but he appreciated the forthrightness.

Anyway, she was right.

“Just a hunch. But it’s alright, it makes two of us...for what it’s worth, this whole experience would’ve been that much harder without you alongside me. I’ll understand if you need to head back to Diamond City soon. I’m not sure how deep this whole thing goes, how much longer it’s going to take to crack it...but I’ve enjoyed having you with me, Nick. I felt that needed to be said.”

Nick wouldn’t express how much that moved him. Even with all the metal gears and bolts he was still as soft at heart as Nick the human had ever been...and even more stubborn when it came to exposing the fact.

“ _Hey_ , when I take up a case I see it through. If that means following you to hell and back, which the Glowing Sea might as well be, so be it. That’s what’s happening, as long as you’ll have me.”

She smiled warmly and thanked him. Nick wondered if he’d been too obvious about the fact that this really had very little to do with the case itself. Had she been as unpleasant as most of his clientele he would’ve sent her on her way already. His job was mostly done.

No, this was less about solving a case and more about not wanting to let someone with that amount of hope, selflessness and moxy walk out of his life. People like that were hard, if not impossible to find these days.

* * *

 

 

“I’m fine, I’m fine, quit fussing.”

Even though she’d been traveling with him for a good bit of time now Margot had known from the start that Nick was a bad liar when it came to his own well being. That hadn’t changed, no matter how many times she’d call his bluff. Oh, he could tell her all kinds of personal things, like who he had been before the war, how isolating it could be as a prototype synth, how he wished he could establish himself apart from the human Nick...but god forbid he admit something was very wrong with his arm.

“Fine until your clothes catch on fire. Your arm’s flaring, Nick. Or should I start calling you Sparky?”

“Very funny. Maybe you oughta have your own comedy routine. Margie Dupont’s got jokes, every Friday and Saturday night at the Third Rail. Mutfruit free at the door for throwing.”

“Oh, sit down already. Grumpy tin can.”

She wasn’t going to take no for an answer. She never did.

As soon as Nick had sat down begrudgingly on a nearby rock, Margot slipped off his coat and rolled up his sleeve to the elbow to inspect the damage. She studied Law, not engineering; she was a lawyer turned private detective, not an electrician, but she had learned a few things about Nick’s wiring in their time together. If he could adjust accordingly to his body she could as well.

“There’s some severed wiring...this must be why you’ve lost mobility to your arm. It seems they got you pretty good back there.”

They had run afoul of Raider outfit, no more than 4 or 5, nothing they hadn’t overcome together before. Still, the fact that he hadn’t emerged unscathed seemed to bother him more than Margot would’ve anticipated. It didn’t help that the wound was on his exposed arm, the one from which some of his synthetic skin casing had fallen off a few years back.

“Yeah, well. I’m falling apart. One of these days somebody’s gonna shout at just the right pitch and I’ll crumble into ash. Maybe I’m not so immortal after all, huh.”

He was attempting to be his usual wry self, but she could sense something was off. Why did he even bother? Didn’t he know by now she had a better feel for him than that?

“We’re _all_ falling apart, Nick. Nothing and no one lasts forever.”

They shared a look that spoke more than any words ever could, exchanged brief and strangely flustered smiles as a result of that unspoken connection, and then Margot turned to grab some duct tape out of her bag.

“Sturges taught me a few things about your wiring last time we were in Sanctuary,” she explained. “Synth first aid, I guess.”

“Thoughtful of you,” he said, that flustered smile still there but hiding somewhat under the brim of his fedora. “Give it here though. Better I touch my sparking plugs and get a little fried than you.”

“Okay, just...be careful.”

It was clear they had to do something. It would be a few days yet before they could make it back to Sanctuary and get Sturges to make a full repair; walking around with electrical sparks flying in the meantime just wouldn’t be the best of ideas. Still, Margot couldn’t alleviate her own concern. An electric shock for Nick wouldn’t be near as grave as it would be to her but she didn’t doubt it would still hurt him.

All seemed to be proceeding well from her close observational perch just beside his shoulder.

Until it wasn’t. There was a zap, just a small one, and Nick jolted up rigid where he sat. It was enough to make Margot jump back a foot from him.

“Dammit! You okay, Nick?” she asked, moreover expecting that he would be. The voice that answered back wasn’t his.

“Would’ve thought your synth friend would know better how to handle his own body.”

Margot drew her pistol fast. Even if it wasn’t Nick’s voice it was still blood-chillingly familiar.

“Couldn’t keep away, Kellogg?” She was trying to sound confident in the situation despite being anything but. “Came back so I could kill you again?”

Kellogg laughed, that horrible guffaw. It seemed so, so _wrong_ coming out of Nick and she had to wonder if she really had it in her to shoot the person that had quickly become her best friend. She wouldn’t. She’d have to figure something else out.

“Give me a break, Mrs. Dupont. We both know you wouldn’t hurt your sweet Valentine. I have to wonder how good of an attorney you were if you can’t even tell a convincing lie.”   

He stood up then and started advancing on her. Margot had to keep reminding herself it wasn’t Nick, it wasn’t Nick (though he had to be in there somewhere) because the urge to call out for him, plead for him to stop was overwhelming. Nothing could’ve been a worse move when standing opposite Kellogg.

“ _Am_ I lying?” she challenged. “You don’t know a thing about me.”

“Seeing things from Nick’s point of view this long, I know a lot more about you than you might realize. Anyway. We’ve got a score to settle. I think it’d just be _great_ fun to have the last thing you see be your beloved pointing a gun between your eyes...and _then_ I get to return the property back to the institute, maybe get a new body of my own…”

Margot was confused for a moment as to what he meant in using the term ‘beloved’. Nate was dead, after all, how would he have been able to-....

And then she looked into the yellow eyes that should’ve been Nick’s and she understood. It was a crushing, all consuming blow, worse than any bullet that Kellogg might have shot at her. Was she really…? Could she truly be…?

That train of thought was never able to leave its station as it was then that Kellogg advanced and Margot struck him across the face with her gun barrel. It was the hardest thing to do, watching he who should’ve been Nick go clattering to the ground. Kellogg’s takeover or no, she still ran to his side and made to help him to his feet.

“ _Shit_ …” Nick hissed, unmistakably himself again now. “‘The hell happened?”

“Oh my god, Nick…”

She’d never been happier to hear his voice- _well_...there’d been a few times a mine had gone off a bit too close to him for comfort and without being able to immediately see her partner it was nice to hear him shout, “I’m fine!” from a distance and know he was probably still in one piece.

Even so.

She threw her arms around him, the first time they’d embraced like this. He must not have known what to think at first as he just stayed rigid there. That is until...

“He came back again, didn’t he?”  

Part of her didn’t want to admit it, though that would’ve been an obvious lie. Nick already knew. The question was a rhetorical one.

He wrapped his arms around her in kind and pressed her to his chest. She had thought he’d be upset to know. Maybe in his fragile state he’d make some kind of ridiculous suggestion like it’d be best if they split up to keep Kellogg away, to keep her safe, some nonsense like that. She could _never._ The Wasteland, her grief, all of it was only manageable because she had him by her side.

But from the way he held her so close, no protests, no awful suggestions of parting ways, he seemed to understand this.

* * *

 

 

After all was said and done, the ghosts of the past finally put to rest, Boston’s most notorious criminal laying in a pool of his own blood, a wife-to-be finally avenged…Nick walked casually into the old Slocum’s Joe and sat down at the diner, silent. It felt like an old habit coming into play, something he might have done prewar. It didn’t seem to matter to him said diner was 200 years empty and out of business.

What could Margot do but just…be there? She had known from the start of this venture this was Nick’s show. She felt honored simply to be included in something so personal to him, something he really needed her along for no more than moral support. He _needed_ her. That was more than enough.

For that reason, she didn’t ask for anything, no explanation or request to offer comfort when he sat silently on his own. She knew that ache so well, yet one of the many ways they understood each other in terms that were mostly unspoken. Words weren’t necessary.

And yet there was another ache present now too, one that had once remained dull and easy to ignore. She had been aware of it -ever since Kellogg had made his disturbing reference- but only just. Now, however, it thrummed against her chest, a warm and painful radiation spike that coursed through every nerve ending. _God_ , she knew what it was…and what a horribly inappropriate time to feel it.

Margot knew, as she watched Nick sit in the silence of his grief and confusion, that she was in love with him. For all the complexity of the situation, it was as simple as that.

She wanted to go to him, wrap her arms around his shoulders, press her nose into his neck... _something_. But he was fragile now and it seemed enough that she was there at all, a distant presence in the diner door frame. Besides that it now felt strange to approach him that way. An odd hesitation settled in her gut, wondering if he’d be able to sense the way she felt through her actions alone.

What would he do if he knew? She was normally honest and forthright when she could be, she spoke her mind in its entirety (one of the reasons being a lawyer might not have been for her after all, not that it mattered now)...but when it came to telling Nick about something so unexpected and raw, she honestly wasn’t sure.

She’d have to think on it, sleep on it...decide if such a truth was worth outing and risking their close companionship.

* * *

 

It was another late night in Diamond City, nothing they weren’t accustomed to. Cases had a tendency to back up when they were out solving the biggest mystery in the Commonwealth and so the visit back home meant no relaxation, but rather many sleepless nights of sifting through files and write ups Ellie had taken in their absence. They had dismissed Ellie home hours ago and Nick was starting to think it might be time to usher Margot to bed as well. Even if he was a synth and therefore not in need of sleep he didn’t let that keep him from being aware of it when it came to the humans he cared about.

Just looking at her it was obvious she was fading fast. A woman of fashionable tastes even in a nuclear wasteland, she had discarded the Silver Shroud overcoat over the back of her chair and now sat almost slumped over her desk from fatigue in the red sequined dress she loved so much. Nick had to admit it worked well on her, _very_ well. If he had further thoughts on the matter of how the dress hugged her curves in just the right way, well...he long ago dismissed them. Following that line of thought was both futile and inappropriate for so many reasons.

“Margie-...I wanted to thank you properly for helping me close the Eddie Winter case.”

She jumped a little, either because of sleepiness or the fact that he hadn’t spoken a word of that incident since it had happened. She hadn’t pushed him to talk about it either, which he appreciated. There was a lot to be said, a lot of which he wasn’t ready to express...but a thank you on his behalf was still more than warranted.

“Oh...yeah, Nick, of course. That was all you, anyway, I just came along to make sure you didn’t sever any more wires.”

“No, really...you did the grunt work in finding the holotapes. We wouldn’t have been able to locate him without those.”

“Well...all in day’s work, really.”

She smiled as sincerely as possible for her fatigue and seemed ready to return to her work, though it still felt like something was missing, something more needed to be said.

“No, it’s-...it wasn’t just about closing a cold case, you know that, right?”

She turned back to face him, looking somehow even more tired than a split second before.

“ _Of course_ I do, Nick. I know what it meant to you. The only reason I haven’t said so is out of respect for you. I didn’t want to overstep.”

It seemed odd that either of them would worry about such a thing at this stage in their friendship. He held no secrets from her and he felt confident in the knowledge that she hadn’t kept any from him. It was for this reason that remaining reticent about the whole thing with her, after all she had done and all she had come to mean to him, felt wrong.

“You never could. What I mean to say is...being out here with you, what I finally realized after all this time was that taking down Winter-...it wasn’t about Nick or Jenny or even you or me. It was about justice, about doing what’s right. That act of goodness? That’s ours. _All_ the good we’ve done, that’s ours and ours alone...and even if that’s the only thing in this world I can ever claim as my own, not Nick’s, not the Institute’s, but mine...then I can die happy. None of it would’ve ever happened if it weren’t for you. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to thank you for that.”

He could tell how much it had affected her from the way the tears were gathering in her soft blue eyes. Nick couldn’t say that he wouldn’t be doing the same if getting teary was an option. He’d long ago resigned himself to being the Institute’s garbage, human Nick Valentine’s last remaining imprint, nothing worthy or unique...meeting Margot Dupont had changed all of that. Maybe he’d always been his own man, synth or no. Maybe it was just Margie that had helped him see that.

Or maybe it was through her companionship alone that he had found autonomy. It was hard to say and the exact reason didn’t really matter.

“You don’t have to thank me. I wanted-...I was happy to be there with you through it all. From the start of things you’ve made this transition doable for me. I don’t know that I would’ve made it this far if it hadn’t been for having you along. The least I could do was...give something back.”

Why it felt like there was something big and invisible and hard to put a finger that they were dancing around, he couldn’t really say...but it was there and it was weighing heavy.

“Nick, I-...this isn’t an easy thing to say…but it’s been on my mind so long and I feel like by not telling you, I’m lying to you….I don’t want it to be like that. I don’t want to keep things from you.”

 _Now_ he felt like he had reason for concern. She was the most honest and upfront person he knew; if Margie had reason to conceal something it was sure to be serious. It just wasn’t like her.

“What’s wrong? Are you in some kind of trouble…?” He tried to imagine what kind of trouble would stalk her with any consequence. This was, after all, the woman who had taken down Sinjin and his associates, an Institute Courser, among other things.  

“No, no, nothing like that,” she assured. “Please, understand before I say anything that I did what I could to shake it. I tried to move on from it so many times, but...it’s become clear to me nothing will change the way I feel. You know I care for you. I hope I’ve made that obvious...but if I told you it was _more_ than that for me, more than just one friend caring for another...what would you say, Nick?”

She was looking at him with wide, terrified eyes, the first time he had ever seen her show any amount of fear outside of her concern for him. The logical part of him knew he needed to be mindful of how much bravery this had to take for her to admit...but at the same time his head was spinning. Had she _really_ just said what he knew she must have?

“I-...you’re serious…”

“Yes…”

He could see her heart dropping at her feet as if he had already given his answer. He reminded himself he needed to be more considerate, but...how? How could this be? What was she _thinking_?

“It’s not one of your better ideas,” he said gruffly, rising from his chair. There was an uncomfortable silence before she rallied back in a defensive tone, “It’s not an _idea_ , Nick, it’s an affliction. Didn’t I tell you I tried to talk myself out of it? I thought you’d appreciate my honesty at least. You always have before. Why not now?”

Nick turned on his heel and stared her down. She recoiled and he wondered if this was how she looked those times Kellogg had taken control.

“Look at me. _Look_ at me, Margie. I’m an old synth, the Institute’s trash. A gun and preferable companionship to loneliness out in the wasteland is the end of the things I can offer you. You’re out of your mind. You don’t want this.”

“Don’t you _dare_ presume to know what I should want and what I shouldn’t. I’d sooner you’d have just given me a ‘forget about it, kid’ than this condescending lecture.”

She was visibly angry, more so than he had ever seen her before. Her tears were more plentiful now but they burned in the blue fire that was her eyes. He had to admit, she frightened him like this...but more so because he couldn’t believe he had it in him to cause her this pain.

Still...she couldn’t. They couldn’t. _Her_ , with him? She was quick-witted and beautiful and honest and kind...maybe there was no one that came to mind that could better deserve her, but not _him_ , surely, no matter how he may have felt.

“You can’t love an old bot! There’s no changing that!” he shouted back. How else was he supposed to convince someone as stubborn as her of the obvious?

“Oh really? Then explain the way I feel, Nick. You’re the Detective. Solve that mystery, why don’t you? My heart tells me it’s is _very_ possible to love an old robot, regardless of whether or not he chooses to love you back.”

Nick was losing the argument and yet still feeling very defensive and scared of what it would yield if he were to give. He couldn’t let her do this. She couldn’t be wasted on him. A good friend would’ve stood in the way of something this foolish, he was only doing what was right.

“I need a walk,” he said finally, moving quickly toward the door and grabbing his fedora on the way out. Before shutting the door behind him he added, “Go to sleep. You’re delirious.”

* * *

 

She was angry at first, avidly so; she may or may not have thrown the coffee pot at the door just after Nick shut it behind him. She would have never asked for, nor even expected reciprocation of her feelings. A kind rejection would’ve been sufficient...but instead he had condescended to her, gotten confrontational, treated her as if the trust and close friendship between them meant nothing. She knew it wasn’t like Nick to be that way and that probably _meant_ something in and of itself...but in her upset that was impossible to reason out.

Eventually she found her way to the bed, the one downstairs as she didn’t have the energy to climb to the loft. Her anger gradually turned to heartbreak as she laid in the darkness, crying into the rough pillow. She didn’t need Nick to love her back the same way she loved him, but she did need him by her side. His friendship had become one of if not the most precious thing to her. Had she lost it in one evening?

She thought he understood that they were in the same in identities lost. Her husband, her child, her home and every sense of belonging she had was taken from her with the dropping of the bombs and she was left to collect crumbs 200 years in the future. It didn’t matter who she had been, what her name was or what she had done before. She was nothing until she met Nick, until he offered her a chance to relocate that which she had lost. He had been the only one willing to do so in all of the people she’d met. He had been the only one with which she’d found new meaning, new belonging in a world that had once felt like the round hole to her square peg.

If that made them nothing, then they were nothing together...but certainly that in and of itself was _something_.

She resolved to apologize when he came back, to ask that they just forget she said anything. This wasn’t worth losing him over forever.

At some point when she was just drifting into sleep the door opened, jostling her awake. Normally that would’ve made her pull her pistol and confront whoever had broken into the office that late...but she knew well how Nick sounded when he moved. It was him.

“Margie? You still here?” he called out, his voice much softer now than it had been when he left.

She sat up in the darkness, the squeak of the mattress probably enough to clue him in to her presence but she answered back anyway, “Yeah, trying to sleep…”

There may have been some residual bitterness in her tone for the way things had gone, but it all subsided the moment he came and sat beside her. She could only see his yellow eyes with any clarity in the darkness.

“I owe you an apology- a big one. I shouldn’t have gone off like that.”

Her fear that he’d reject her completely from his life following the confession was gone, just like that. It was a weight off her shoulders.

“It’s alright, Nick…” she reached out for his hand in the darkness, pleased when the metal fingers laced with her own. “I shouldn’t have-...I tried to convince myself otherwise. It wasn’t working and I didn’t want to keep it from you. It didn’t feel right. I’d never expect you to feel the same way, I just wanted you to know.”

She heard him laugh softly before caressing her hair with his other hand, then trailing down and cupping her cheek. She inclined into his touch more than she knew was wise. No, she didn’t feel entitled to it...but it certainly didn’t stop her from _wanting_ him to hold and touch her like a lover.

“Seems like we have the same problem, then. Funny how alike two people can be while being so different.”

She pressed her lips against his metal fingers, experimentally.

“We’re not that different. Bolts and wires don’t make the man.”

He was quiet for a moment, as if considering her point further. She let him do so without further prodding, knowing full-well that was just the way the Nick Valentine thought process had to go.

“I told myself I didn’t want to see you wasted on an old synth...but I think most of it was being caught off guard. I _know_ what I feel for you, Margie, clear as day. I just never thought in a million years you’d want the same thing.”

She sat up on her elbow, the quickening of her heart making sleep impossible now.

“You’d have noticed with anyone else. You let your bias get in the way of making an accurate deduction. You’ve been at this for 200 years, Nick, you should know better. _Tsk, tsk_.”

“I guess you’ve got a point there,” he admitted. She could hear the smile in his voice and wished it was just a little less dark so she could see it. “Then again, this is the first time-...well. Let’s just say you’re unique in your desires.”

“Good,” she said, sitting up all the way to playfully tug at his tie. “I’ve never been very good at sharing, anyway.”

“You don’t need to tell me. Since you’ve come along I’ve hardly had a case to solve myself.”

He was leaning in now, closer, and she took it as tentative permission to keep closing the gap between them. _God_ , she wanted to kiss him, and not for the first time. How many times had she seen him working away at his desk, speaking to a client, snooping out a scene, wrapped up in his own thoughts, and had to remind herself she couldn’t just go over and do exactly what she was doing now?

It was hard not to press forward, passionate as she was about everything, but she knew she had to be slow for his sake.

“You _may_ kiss me if you want,” she suggested, looking up at him through her lashes. It had been awhile since this flirtatious side of her had reason to be unleashed. “Unless you have another reason for being this close.”

His hand found its way around her waist and she slid closer into him. There was a still hesitancy here, she could feel it, though why he was second guessing himself now she was having difficulty understanding. She was so wanton now it was kind of ridiculous; surely he wasn’t wondering if this is what she _truly_ wanted.

“I wonder if you’re as good at kissing as you are at solving a case,” Nick said, just before _finally_ pressing his lips against hers.

She sighed with absolute relief into his mouth, gripped on to the lapels of his trench coat, slid her hands over his shoulders. It wasn’t like kissing a human man, no. The feel was different and it was lacking in that overt warmth...but it was nothing she minded at all. She could feel his reciprocated desire in the way he kissed her, in the way his hand found its way into her hair again.

There was so much she wanted and no difference in his make up made for any arousal lost on her part.

She hoped that was his intention, as once he broke their kiss he began planting smaller ones across her jaw, down the slope of her neck, humming praises into her skin as he did so. Had he really _not_ done this in the past 200 years?

“Oh, _Nick_ …” she keened, pulling him closer. “I love you…”

A kiss to the hollow of her throat and then a husky, “Sweetheart...I love you too. _God_. I love you…”

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Do you ever wonder,” she said after a beat, looking back over the ruins of Boston. “Why us, of all people? So many lives lost, so much destruction, and yet...by some weird twist of fate the both of us should live to meet each other 200 years later. I never knew life could be so crazy.” 
> 
> She pulled him to her, wrapped him up in her arms. He reciprocated without question. 
> 
> “I have to be honest, Nick. I wish we had met under better circumstances.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I alluded to this chapter being about robot smut but my inspiration went another direction, having completed the main plot in-game with Margot. I haven't seen a lot of material in fandom that deals with the Sole Survivor's grief at having lost their family, the sadness that would following finding Shaun in the Institute as an old man. I know it's heavy stuff and it may be that I've zeroed in on it more than most on account of being married and having a 2 year old son. You worry about these things. You feel maybe you can wrap your head around how awful this would feel- not totally, but enough to cry about it at random intervals when you find yourself thinking too hard about your Fallout character....
> 
> In any case. Here are some more big moments in Margot and Nick's relationship, this chapter dealing with events later in the plot, including her grief. I have more ideas of what'll come next that will hopefully make it to the next chapter. As well as robot smut. As an erotica enthusiast I'm VERY eager to explore what sex with a gen-2 synth would be like...
> 
> ANYWAY. Enjoy! Thanks for all your kudos and comments!

200 years of life uninterrupted in a nuclear wasteland and Nick had never felt like he’d waited longer. He sat on their porch overlooking the rest of Sunshine Tidings, several case files on the table beside his chair that had been long ignored. His attention was fixated solely on the charred transporter, even as he was unsure if that’s where she’d appear again.

There were a lot of things he was unsure of, really; if she been teleported successfully, how the Institute would respond to her infiltration, whether or not he’d see her again…

It was a more than necessary thing for her to do, he knew that, as was letting her do this on her own without the presence of a discarded gen-2. That didn’t make the separation any less difficult.

Aware that she would want him to be focusing on something else, he did his preoccupied best to transfer attention from the busted transporter to the stack of cases. _Missing person, missing person, missing person...well, he’s having an affair, obviously. Case closed._

“Mrs. Dupont! You’re back!”

Nick all but threw the case papers to the four winds when he lept from his chair, trying to figure out where the greeting of that stray settler was coming from. He followed the voices around a couple of cabins.

“What...what was it like, Mrs. Dupont? Did they do anything to you?”

There was a gaggle of Sunshine Tidings citizens starting to crowd her by the time he arrived. Margot was barely visible around their shoulders but even from that limited view he could tell she was exhausted beyond all reckoning...maybe with something other than fatigue.

“Alright, back up, back up, give the woman some space,” Nick gently encouraged the settlers away. He understood their curiosity, of course, but now was not the time for a press conference.

She held his arm with something that felt very close to desperation and assured the settlers, “I promise I’ll answer any questions you have...I just need some time to rest and gather my thoughts. Some privacy during this time would be appreciated.”

The people that had settled in Sunshine Tidings had proven themselves to be respectful and gentle folk, a rare quality in the Commonwealth. Nick owed it to the relative tranquility of the location, something that had drawn him and his partner in as well ( _that_ , and the prewar ‘Free The Robots’ rhetoric. It just seemed apropos). As such, they agreed without complaint and went, albeit reluctantly, back to their lives.

Nick wrapped his arm around Margot’s shoulders and took her back to their cabin in silence. Her apparent lack of anything to say even to him clued him into the fact that something was wrong...but he didn’t push, just as she never did him.

“First order of business- you need sleep.”

Nick decided this as he drew the curtains. Margot had no complaints as she slipped off her Silver Shroud coat and hat and crawled into bed.

“I don’t even know where to begin, Nick,” she said as he took a momentary seat beside her on the mattress. Even in the darkened cabin he could see that the hope that once glimmered in her eyes was gone, drained. It flooded him with simultaneous worry and anger. What had they done to her? What had become of her son?

“Is this something you really wanna talk about right now?”

He already knew the answer and for that reason didn’t want her to feel obligated to offer him an explanation. Sure enough she shook her head ‘no’.

“I want to forget I ever went there. I want to forget everything about it.”

Nick caressed her hair, brushed it from her face, tucked it behind her ear- some trivial effort to soothe her as best he could.

“ _Sleep_ , kid. We’ll talk when you’re ready.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and then made to leave but she grabbed the sleeve his of trench coat.

“Please. I don’t want to be alone.”

He knew full well what she was asking for and was more than willing to grant her wish. He took off his coat and hat as she had done and slipped in bed with her under the sheets. Part of him still couldn’t fathom how she could ever want this from him and no one else. He offered very little in the way of body heat or a comfortable form to lie back on, but it really didn’t matter. Not to her.

She drew his arm over her waist and he held her, back against synthetic chest.

“I’m real glad you’re back here. I didn’t know what to expect.”

Maybe it wasn’t the right time to say so, not when his relieved concern meant so very little in the wake of whatever happened to her at the Institute, but he couldn’t help himself. Whether or not he’d be able to do this again had been up in the air for a day and had been far more an excruciating period of time than any of the 200 plus years that had passed.

She pressed his fingers to her lips as she had done that first time in Diamond City.

“That makes two of us.”

* * *

Four days went by, then a week. They hadn’t moved from Sunshine Tidings in that time and Margot hadn’t said anything of her journey to Nick or anyone. He knew full well the Railroad would be waiting not so patiently on intel- god only knew what the Institute would be waiting for, if anything.

Still, despite his curiosity and concern, he refused to push her. He allowed her to move undisturbed in the cabin, mostly sleeping but sometimes moving listlessly for necessities, or to gaze out a window. At some point or another he knew he’d have to address this. For her own sake he couldn’t let her wither up and blow away without making an effort to fight it.

He wasn’t looking forward to that...but fortune favored him and, eventually, Margot said something other than the usual.

It was a rainy afternoon, Nick was once more immersing himself in case files as a fitting distraction while she looked out the window at the storm.

“I don’t see the point anymore,” she said, apropos of nothing. He all but jumped in his seat. “Of any of this. I came all this way and did so much...and for what?”

Nick simply turned to face her, no answer yet given. He knew well that sometimes the best way to get people to open up was to say nothing at all.

“I found him. Shaun. My baby-...well, no, not a baby anymore. Not by a long shot. Not a boy either.” She stared fixedly at the ground now, a palpable bitterness growing in her voice. “It was over 60 years ago that they took him from me.”

Nick felt compelled to ask if she was sure the old man she spoke of was who he claimed to be, but Margot answered before he could verbalize it.

“I knew it was him in my gut. I saw Nate in him...in his eyes, his expressions…”

The bitterness was subsiding now in favor of something more raw, tragic. It took everything in him not to go to her and take her in his arms. This was delicate, she had to navigate it on her own.  

“I had so many things I was looking forward to....birthday parties, graduations, pictures on the fridge...a soft little hand in mine. _Hell_ , diaper changing. There wasn’t even time for one of those...infamous diaper incidents all parents have to go through. Nothing. There’s nothing now.”

Nick wasn’t usually lost for words, but then again...no one in the history of anything had ever experienced something like this. He couldn’t think of anything that didn’t feel insensitive. ‘I’m sorry’? ‘That’s horrible, Margie’? Everything fell flat.

There was a beat and then she was in tears, the first time he had seen her cry like this, deep, heaving sobs into the heels of her hands. He didn’t know what to say, but he surely knew what to do, gathering her up in his arms and carrying her to be cradled on the bed. She didn’t argue.

She gripped on to the fabric of his trenchcoat and cried into his chest, occasionally whimpering “my baby…Shaun, my baby…”. His heart, if he had one, would’ve been breaking in two, never sadder to have a case closed. It shouldn’t have been like this.

Nick never had high hopes when a case was brought to him, especially if it was the matter of a missing person; only two or three of the hundreds he’d been given in the Commonwealth over the years had ever ended happily. He usually never hesitated to tell his client as much, believing it only fair to prepare them for the worst.

And yet, here came Margot Dupont, brimming with unparalleled determination and hope that she and her infant son would be successfully reunited. Maybe it had rubbed off on him, making him able to believe the impossible. It was hard to say.

Either way, he felt like he had lied to her.

* * *

Night finally came, taking the storms with it. A cool breeze and a clear night sky beckoned the couple outside- or, rather, Nick encouraged it. It had been awhile since she’d spent much time outside the cabin and he felt some fresh air (or as fresh as one could get) would do her some good.

Her tears had subsided and Nick really thought he was starting to see some of her old self poke through, if only a sliver. It was more than enough for him.

“In his mind, the Institute _rescued_ us,” Margot said of Shaun. She pulled the ratted blanket around her shoulders a bit tighter. “Spared him a life in the dangerous Commonwealth, he says. Now he wants them to take me in too.”

“Oh, of course, now that it’s convenient for him,” Nick scoffed. “Now that he’s had his twilight years crisis and decided to bring you down to defrost. Life is nothing but a science experiment to those people. I’ve met Super Mutants with more reverence for their victims.”

Margot sighed and shook her head.

“I can see Nate in him, but...that’s where the similarities end. He’s nothing like his father. He’s nothing like me. I would have never raised someone so...selfish. And cruel.”

“That’s for damn sure, Margie.”

“It wasn’t right for them to take him from me. It wasn’t right to kill Nate. We always said...we’d face everything as a family. The Commonwealth is harsh and unforgiving, but we’d have been together.”

Nick didn’t falter, he knew what she meant. It wasn’t a lament that they’d found each other instead, it was an understandable wish that things had gone differently. They would always love their past partners as much as they loved each other, always mourn the lives they could have had- he knew that, she knew that.

“I wish he’d see things your way. He’s just as much a means to an end as anyone that gets involved with those people.”

She nodded in agreement and then fell into silence again. He didn’t mind. There was so much to process and suss through and unlike the work they did together he really didn’t know how to help. This was her show...he just wished, for her sake, it could’ve been easier.

“What am I gonna do, Nick? My son is a danger to the entire Commonwealth...if not the world. Granted, I know there’s not much of it left…”

“Maybe not, but it’s worth fighting for anyway. If you’re asking my moral stance on this...I don’t think you owe him anything. We stand up for our children because they need guidance, because we’re older and more experienced...that’s not true, in your case.”

It was a hard, obvious truth, one he felt guilty for dealing out so soon after her painful discovery...but it had to be said. She had always valued honesty over most anything else, no matter how difficult it was to hear.

“You’re right. If I could convince him otherwise that might be something, but...I don’t think I can. Either I’m with him or against him. If I don’t do things his way he’ll hate me.”

“I’ve heard it said most parents have to deal with that at one time or another...granted, the stakes are usually only as high as...what? A toy or something.”

She huffed out a small, sad laugh, despite herself.

“Well. He seems to see the Commonwealth and the world as whole as his personal toy. So I guess that’s not too far off base.”

Nick sighed in disappointed agreement as Margot stood from her chair and slid the blanket off her shoulders.

“Where you off to?” he asked.

“Get ready for tomorrow. It’s high time we head out again. Dez and the rest’ll be chomping at the bit to hear intel.”

She made to head back into the cabin and do just that, but Nick gently took hold of her wrist to halt her- not unlike as she had done to him several days prior.

“This doesn’t have to be your fight, Margie,” he said, his voice low. “No one would blame you if you had to put an end to this here, considering...well, everything. It’s not fair to expect you to be everyone’s savior.”

She smiled down confidently at him and for the first time in days he recognized the woman that had left on the transporter.

“If I don’t take the job, who will? This is as much my world now  as it ever was. If I want it to be something again I have to do my part.”

She kissed him and then once more moved to go get things ready, unsuspecting that he would pull her into his lap. She giggled and cozied up to him. Preparing for tomorrow could wait a bit longer.

Nick just couldn’t help himself, really. He wasn’t sure he had ever felt his love for her stronger than he did in this moment. The evidence of her resilience and hope despite all odds was now clearer than ever. Could _anything_ stand in her way? He didn’t think so.

* * *

 

“Do you remember what it felt like when that first bomb dropped?”

“I don’t. Technically wasn’t there. Nick had already been uploaded to the system so my memories as him end with that experiment.”

“Right, I knew that. Sorry.”

They stood on the roof of the skyscraper long after the huge blast that had been the decimation of the Institute, long after Desdemona and the rest offered to help chaperone Shaun safely back to headquarters. Margot and Nick said they’d be along in a minute...maybe 30 minutes. After a cigarette or two.

“I’ll never forget what it felt like,” she said after a time. “It rattled my bones. Even as we went into the Vault I was afraid we’d die anyway. I guess I wasn’t wrong. Our family died that day.”

Nick glanced over, monitoring her expressions, before his eyes drifted back to the smoking crater that had once been the Institute. Even in the wake of the destruction all around them the sun shown a beautiful golden red on the waters of the bay.

“What did this one feel like?”

Margot swallowed thickly. “Closure. It’s the most I could’ve hoped for. I suppose I should be happy. Shaun won’t have to suffer now. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it, Nick?” 

“It was the _only_ thing to do, Margie. They didn’t give you any other options. Now the Commonwealth can go forth into the uncertain future with one less crippling fear hanging over our heads. It means more than you might think. Life for these people the past two centuries has been hell. You’re the only person who’s made a real effort to change that.”

She smiled at him. “I certainly didn’t do it alone. I’m sure of it now- there’s no way l I would’ve made it this far without you.”

He took her hand in his, a simple gesture for all that she had come to mean to him and the significance of her words. He’d never be able to really communicate to her how much it meant to him to be needed by her like that, to be the other half of a whole.

“Do you ever wonder,” she said after a beat, looking back over the ruins of Boston. “Why us, of all people? So many lives lost, so much destruction, and yet...by some weird twist of fate the both of us should live to meet each other 200 years later. I never knew life could be so crazy.”

She pulled him to her, wrapped him up in her arms. He reciprocated without question.

“I have to be honest, Nick. I wish we had met under better circumstances.”

“So do I,” Nick agreed, resting his cheek on the top of her head. “And so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time given to us.”

“ _Tolkien_? You really are a wealth of literary knowledge.”

“Hm. Maybe I would’ve been better suited to teaching English.”

“You might still have a chance. Sunshine Tidings needs a schoolhouse, after all, what with all the kids we’ve got and those yet to be born.”

“Promise to bring me an apple for my desk everyday and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

They then walked together to the door back into the building, hands held, ready now to put the past behind them and face said uncertain future together.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “You’re always so shy,” she whispered, smiling against his lips as she brought his hand to her knee, drawing up her dress with it. 
> 
> “I’m a gentleman,” he corrected, moving his kisses from her lips, down her jaw, to her neck. “But if you’d rather I not be…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for some unabashed fluff and smut, people. That's right, it's time for ROBOT SIN. FINALLY. No, really, Nick and Margot are just going to kick it around Croup Manor, have sexytiems and be romantic and cute. They deserve it after all the shit they've been through. I am very much planning for a Far Harbor continuation of this story that'll have more substance so stay tuned, it (hopefully) doesn't end here despite the Disney movie-esque ending this chapter gets.

“So he wasn’t interested, huh?”

“Nope. He seemed much more at home in HQ, helping out Tinker Tom. They certainly don’t mind having him around, so...as long as everyone’s happy.”

Margot was disappointed, she couldn’t lie about that. She’d only just connected with Shaun and was looking forward to spending their first Christmas together...but then again, dragging a child across the Commonwealth to renovate a getaway home probably wasn’t the safest of ideas. She had asked him if he wanted to go; he politely declined in favor of spending the holiday learning from and tinkering with the Railroad. Fair enough. There would be New Years and many Christmases afterwards.

She didn’t want to crowd him. This was a delicate situation. They were both being dropped into this dynamic rather abruptly and they had to feel their way to this as mother and son. It was hard _not_ to crowd him, however. Being given a second chance to experience her son’s childhood was a bigger blessing than she would have ever imagined. She wanted to do everything with him, spend every moment together.

But he was still a kid and he needed space to be autonomous. She knew that much from being a mother for a collective year.

“We could’ve stayed,” Nick reminded her. “I wouldn’t have minded.”

“No, it’s fine. Shaun’s going to be sick of me soon enough, I’m sure. Making friends that see him as something other than a science project is important for him, anyway.”

They walked up the driveway to Croup Manor and stood in awe for a moment. It wasn’t hard to imagine what the place must have looked like 200 years prior.

"I could’ve only dreamed of ever having a place like this. Makes you wonder who lived here before.”

“Old money,” Nick guessed. “Some social elite family of Boston, I’d wager. With any luck we’ll recover some heirloom jewelry. Not that they’ll mean anything to anyone next to the handful of discarded bottle caps in the kitchen.”

Margot scoffed out a laugh. Funny how priorities had changed.

The two of them cautiously approached the house, guns un-holstered and at the ready. This was customary for any unfamiliar building in the Commonwealth even if it _looked_ vacated. Sometimes, they got lucky. Most of the time it was just a matter of waiting long enough for whatever it was to pop out.

“No clear sounds...no immediately evident signs of life,” Margot whispered. “I’m thinking it’s either empty or…”

They exchanged looks, agreed in their assessment that didn’t need to be voiced; _swarming with ghouls_.

Sure enough there was a quick shuffle to the left side of the house, a blood-curdling hiss and in no time flat a ghoul had lept out of the shadows and on top of Nick, sending him toppling to the ground.

Margot didn’t waste any time. Two quick, clean shots of her laser pistol to its head and all Nick had to do was elbow the corpse off of him.

“Thank god your aim isn’t what it was a year ago. I’d have a hole clean through me right now.”

Margot sneered as she helped him to his feet.

“You are _never_ going to let me live that down, are you? It was one stray shot to your side, barely singed your casing. We’d been ambushed my raiders, there was a lot going on. You’re _fine_.”

“I still don’t see why you have to use that Brotherhood of Steel garbage. What’s wrong with good old fashioned bullets?”

“Come on, Nick. You have to admit there’s something amusing about Danse’s favorite gun being used to protect my synth lover. The irony is worth it... _that_ and I just like lasers. Sue me.”

Nick chuckled and reloaded his gun.    

“Seems unwise to take an attorney to court. I’ll have to let this one slide.”

 

* * *

 

It had been a good while since Nick had rolled up his sleeves and done manual labor. He made sure to pull his weight in Diamond City, to be sure. Solving cases and doing the occasional repair work wasn’t enough in his book. _Everyone_ had to do their part to keep the wall strong and tall. Of course, it had been a few years now since the last big overhaul but he hadn’t forgotten what he learned of how to keep Diamond City safe.

 _Now_ that knowledge would be put to use in restoring Croup Manor with his partner. He had to admit, this was more fun. Despite the ghoul infestation it was as beautiful and safe a location as the Commonwealth could offer. The house itself would no doubt match that level of beauty as soon as they were done.

That’s what he and Margie, did after all. They worked and worked to make something from the wreckage that had destroyed their lives. Today, Croup Manor...tomorrow, the world.

He was interrupted from his thoughts and the nailing down of a new wall in the dining room when a floppy, heavy weight dropped from the second story and grazed his shoulder. He knew it was a ghoul corpse before he even looked back to the confirm the fact.

Margie peered down through a hole in the upper level floor and smiled sheepishly at him.

“ _Whoops_. Sorry, hon. You don’t mind taking out the trash, do you?”

* * *

Working tirelessly throughout the following week had gotten most of the major restoration work done. New walls were in place, floors had been repaired, beams reinforced, generators and electricity were humming happily. Now came the time for the more domestic of tasks, the kind that Margot had been looking forward to. She had swept and dusted every square inch of the house, made an office upstairs for their work, furnished and decorated to the best of her ability.

Croup Manor was starting to look like a home again- more importantly, it was _theirs_ in every sense of the word.

Still, it wasn’t until the afternoon she was putting up new lights in the living room that she realized what had been restored to her. The back door was open, offering a full view of Nick as he tinkered with the motorcycle that had been sitting to the side of the house. He’d already assured her he didn’t expect anything to come of it, but it was worth it to try. Just imagine if he could get the thing revving again!

Or salvage spare parts. That was the more likely outcome.

She paused in her lighting efforts, leaned against a wall and watched him as he worked, recalling how Nate would do the exact same thing with their car when it was acting up. Granted, his was more of a ‘let me bang around futilely in the engine with a wrench to see if I can avoid paying a mechanic’, bless him...but the sentiment was there as well as the memory.

She had lost so much, true. The war had taken its toll, but the wasteland, oddly enough, had given just as much back.

* * *

Along with an old plastic Christmas tree, lights and garlands, Margie had found a set of prewar outfits for both of them that had, somehow, been preserved despite 200 years and a nuclear war. Nick wouldn’t ask how, he was sure she didn’t know either. Either way, the clothes they’d arrived in were long overdue for a wash. She’d been itching to get her hands on his trench coat and a washboard for quite some time, he knew, and so he handed it over with some small amount of hesitation.

“It’s already falling apart, mind you don’t finish the job.”   

She _did_ finish the job, however, in a completely contrary way to what he had been expecting. After washing and drying it she had mended his coat to the best of her ability.

“Do you think it’s lost any character without all the tatters?” he teased. “Will anyone even recognize me anymore?”

She was on his lap, a consequence of another one of his surprise wrist-pulls. It had become a thing for them whenever he was particularly overwhelmed with love or gratitude or _anything_ for her. She never minded, content to drop whatever it was she had been doing at the time to devote herself to Nick’s lap.

She ran her fingers along the crisp collar’s edge of his new white shirt, down the knitted path of the sweater vest. He had to admit, he looked every bit the part of ‘man of the house’. It was a nice, temporary reprieve from synth detective.

“Oh, I think you still have a few defining characteristics that set you apart from the rest,” she assured, nuzzling kisses on to his neck.

Nick had gone the past 200 years thinking that intimacy was a done deal for him. He didn’t feel that regular urge or pull for it that human Nick seemed to have felt- nothing overt, nothing a typical man with hormones wouldn’t have experienced from time to time, surely. But synth Nick was a _synth_ , ill-equipped, and therefore ineligible. So he thought. He also thought falling in love was a non-option too and yet, there was Margie.

With her had also come that restored hunger (particularly when she was kissing his neck like that). Nick didn’t know how to explain it and with the Institute gone it was a good bet he’d never have an answer. Maybe it was a residual consequence of human Nick’s memories, maybe the Institute had imbued him with something that mimicked hormones as a part of the experiment, something that only triggered with the right stimuli. He didn’t know. He didn’t really need to.

What amazed him more is that she’d _want_ to kiss his synthetic casing like that, loving and tender, but with that palpable sense of need. How could this all be his? This beautiful, intelligent woman, his best friend and partner, in love with him for everything that he was down to the last rusty bolt. He didn’t know what he did to deserve her but he was still selfish enough to not wonder about it too hard.

He drew her chin upward, bringing their lips together. She sighed into his mouth as she always did, blowing life and power into his cooling fans, making his synapses fire and flare. He was vaguely aware of the Jaguars’ _Merry Christmas, Darling_  playing on the radio in the hallway. It was oddly fitting- at least, better than something like _Run, Run Rudolph_. He’d have to thank Travis later.

“You’re always so shy,” she whispered, smiling against his lips as she brought his hand to her knee, drawing up her dress with it.

“I’m a _gentleman_ ,” he corrected, moving his kisses from her lips, down her jaw, to her neck. “But if you’d rather I not be…”

Margie knew full well that he wasn’t _shy_ so much as she was impatient. They’d been together long enough now that she’d seen some fairly unbridled sides to him in the throes of passion and it was very possible this would lead to another. For the moment, he drew his hand up her leg, massaging her inner thighs and sucking on the slope of her neck as he did so. She was already moaning in that beautiful way he’d give up everything to hear.

“Nick…!” she whined when his hand found what it had been searching for. She was already wet, enough that he didn’t feel much hesitation in pushing past the fabric of her panties and slipping in a finger. Another whine was drawn from her when he did this and she ground her hips against him, ready to all but bounce on his hand. All in good time. 

Margie wasn’t shy either when it came to this, not by any stretch of the imagination. From the start she had been upfront and clear about her desires; maybe not always in words but the two of them had a way of communicating that didn’t always require it. She’d bat her eyelashes or press her hips against him or push him gently against a surface which _always_ meant, ‘I want you. Now.’. To say so out loud would be redundant.

“You’re always so good for me, aren’t you, sweetheart? You sing so well for me…do it again.”

He added another finger, curled them both inside of her and she did exactly as she had been asked.

Margot and Nick were equals in everything and treated each other as such- especially during sex, even as one of them would always have to dominate, every time, without fail. They switched off regularly, depending on what felt natural. Nick enjoyed playing both roles, something he didn’t know about himself or human Nick prior to meeting her. Jenny, as he recalled, was a bit shyer in her wants, less experienced and seemed to always let him set the pace. He couldn’t remember human Nick minding that either, but, well...if he was honest, this was more fun.

As if to reward her (and himself, really), he undid the buttons on the top of her dress to expose her breasts. He knew well how sensitive they were, how one slight touch to her nipple would send a wave of pleasure to her clit. He’d discovered a while ago just how useful his slender metal fingers could be to stimulating her thusly. All for the best, as his other hand was currently occupied.

He traced the pointed end of one metal finger around the bud of her nipple. It hardened to an unbelievable degree with the combination of the cold steel and the precision of the sharp end. Margie sucked in a breath, cursed, bit her lower lip and reached down immediately to relieve her own tension, almost as if it was a reflex.

Even with his hand between a woman’s legs, Nick was still the self-professed gentleman.

“Allow me,” he whispered into her ear as his thumb moved to rub circles around and on her clit, his index and middle finger still moving inside her with ever increasing speed and purpose.

She was reclining back now, eyes closed, her mouth agape with moans, completely lost to the overwhelming feelings he was giving her. _This_ was his heaven; Margie hot and blushing and melting in his arms.

“Oh, Nicky…” she whined, her breath becoming faster and more ragged. “Oh god, oh _fuck_ , oh Nick…!”

With one last cry she came hard on his hand. Her thighs quivered and her breath was hot on his cheek as she pressed her forehead against his.

“I-...I think you’re getting noticeably better at that…” she laughed, disbelieving.

“That took, what…? Less than a minute? I’d say you’re right.”

He withdrew from and kissed her firmly. They lingered in this for a moment and her gratitude was felt in the way she massaged her lips against his and swiped his mouth with her tongue- not that she _needed_ to be showing any. It was he that owed her an early Christmas gift for mending his impossible coat.

She rose from his lap after a time and fixed him with a stare so sultry she made Magnolia of the Third Rail look like a Mother Superior. Margie was _far_ from through with him.

“Come on, Detective,” she purred, taking his hands. “I’ve got an early Christmas present upstairs for you to unwrap.”

* * *

Christmas Day brought snow. Not a _huge_ amount, just enough to lightly blanket the ground and give a respectable chill to the air. Their presents to each other were modest and few, but they had been gifting one another with various treats since the moment they arrived at the Manor. After having gone off as hard as he did with her the night before, his systems overloading and all but blowing a fuse, Nick didn’t think he had it in him to ask for anything more...but the new tie she’d sewn for him was appreciated nonetheless.

They spent the afternoon strolling through town- of course, a stroll in the Commonwealth meant occasionally pulling out one’s gun to take out the trash. They _called_ it a stroll for the sake of it being Christmas, but they also wanted to clear out any nearby threats to their home. Six to one half dozen of another, really.

Nahant Chapel was nearby. It caught Margot’s eye, as most of the chapels they found did, and she gravitated towards it, cautious Nick in tow. She had been moderately religious prior the bombs dropping; he had always been more of a cynical agnostic. The change in things had made her question her faith numerous times, often to the point of denying what she believed entirely. Despite his skepticism he always encouraged her back to what _she_ felt was true.

They’d had numerous discussions on the subject of God, if there was one, if heaven and hell were a thing, how did other faiths reconcile with each other...there were never any clear answers, but there were never any arguments between them about it either. Despite what they leaned towards, they could both agree that the world was strange and God had a weird way of conducting things if such a thing existed in the first place.

They could also both agree on the tranquility and beauty of small chapels- this one, especially. Even with the windows blown out and the pews scattered there was still a palpable reverence to this place. The sea could be better heard roaring and crashing as the waves met the shore.

“Where were you and Jenny planning to get married?” she asked as they sat together on one of the only available pews.

Nick bristled a little. He didn’t like thinking of Jenny as ever being his. She always felt like human Nick’s alone, though Margie advocated that human Nick was and is still a part of him. He’d yet to reconcile that thought.

“Things were up in the air, if I remember correctly. They-, uh...we’d just moved from Chicago, no concrete plans for a ceremony yet. It’s just as well, I guess. In truth, she was fortunate to go out the way she did. Maybe Eddie Winter did both of us a service after all.”

Margot hooked her arm around his and cuddled into his side. She knew it wasn’t easy to talk about this.

“Nate and I got married in a rose garden. It fit for us,” she said, a fond, distant smile on her face at the memory. “But I’d always sort of wished it could’ve been in a place like this. A church by the sea. Is there anything more romantic?”

Nick smiled down at her, kissed the top of her head. The past was awful and heartbreaking, true, but _she_ was his future now. With that being the case, it was hard to find things to be sad or heartbroken about these days.

“I’m sorry we don’t have a pastor or registered official. How long do you think it’d take Mayor Hancock to get down here?”

Margot laughed. “I’d worry he’d take one too many hits of Jet and pass out halfway.”

“Good point. Then again, I guess we don’t really need him either.”

Nick stood up and offered Margot his hands. She looked at him curiously, unsure of what he had in mind.

“Penny for your thoughts, Detective?” she giggled, an eyebrow raised.

“Did you or did you not say you wished you could’ve been married in a place like this? I heard you loud and clear. _Forgive me_ for being unorthodox. I can get on one knee if you really want me too.”

“Nick…!”

“I see there’s no alternative.”

He did just that, knelt down on one knee before her in front of the pew with her hands still in his. Margot’s face read of pure, unabated disbelief. Was he really going to-…? Was this _happening_ …?  

“Margie...you know there’s no one else I’d give this much of myself to. As far as I’m concerned I gave my vows the moment we skipped Goodneighbor for the Glowing Sea. That was it. You’ve had this old bot’s purely metaphorical heart from then on. A ceremony of any kind seems redundant now, but...what the hell. You want to get married in a chapel just like this one? Let’s do it, kid. You and me. Let’s stand up there and pretend the world isn’t broken. Me in a tux, you in a dress worth the cost of a house. I’ve got a ring and everything.”

She was laughing through building tears now. “You _do_ , do you? And how did you come by that?”

“Well...it’s not so much a ring as it is a spare flange nut...but I guess if you’re getting married to a bot it’s only apropos.”

Having finally parted with Nate’s ring in favor of putting it on a chain around her neck, her left ring finger was bare. Nick found said spare flange nut in his pocket and slipped it over the tan line that had made her hand look lonely.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, standing and leading him over the the altar. Keen to continue the fantasy she added, “I had a bridal shower with my mother and sisters and friends a month before. They gave me way too much chinaware. We’ll have to find a way to resell it.”

Nick took his place beside her.

“My bachelor party was lackluster. I’m getting too old for that kind of party. I’d rather be up here with you, any day.”

In their minds the chapel transformed into what it must have been two centuries ago. There was a pastor; an old, doughy man that had no doubt had performed hundreds of ceremonies before them. The sanctuary almost stank of orchids while the pews were filled with still living family members and friends. Lace framed Margot’s face, Nick was no longer made of wires.

_Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of this man and woman in holy matrimony…._

“Nicholas Gerard Valentine, do you take Marguerite Rose Dupont to be your lawfully wedded wife, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?” Margot asked, as there really was no proper officiant.

Nick squeezed her hands. He thought his circuits might burst from how much love he felt for her in this moment.

“I most certainly do. And what of you, Marguerite Rose Dupont? Do you take an this old robot to be your lawfully wedded husband, fully aware of the fact that you’ll have to be taping up wires and running diagnostics from now until forever?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, whispered, “You know I do,” and kissed him. The two of them alone heard the clapping from the imagined guests and the organ recessional that followed.

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’d like to know...beyond your work, what is the nature of your relationship? I didn’t think Nick would tell me.”
> 
> Margot wouldn’t say so aloud, but DiMA was right about that too. 
> 
> “I guess you could say I wear a lot of hats in Nick Valentine’s life; wife, best friend, confidant...occasional tailor and washwoman. Mechanic and electrician at times, too, it comes with the territory of being married to an old bot. Everything but personal assistant, really- we have Ellie Perkins for that and I’m terrible with organization.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, after much unnecessary delay, this is the chapter that puts a new spin on the events of Far Harbor. I'm not sure spoiler warnings are needed at this point, but just in case...spoiler warning: this pretty much gives away every important plot twist and development in Far Harbor. 
> 
> For now, this chapter will most likely conclude this story. It's possible I may come up with a new idea to continue their adventures (and, honestly, I hope I do) but at the moment this seems to be it. I hope you've enjoyed the ups and downs of Margot and her robot husband's tale!

It was nice of Kenji to lend them the boat, neither of them took that for granted. They’d be hard pressed to get over to the island otherwise (Margie could swim and technically so could Nick, but being immersed in water  _ that _ long wouldn’t do any favors for his framework). Still, it didn’t change the fact that neither of them knew  _ how _ to drive a boat. 

“Solving mysteries is our thing, right? So, for now, we just have to figure out the mystery of boat driving mechanics. I’m sure our talents are transferrable.”

“I don’t suppose it’d be too humbling to just go ask the owner for some help.”

“Of course it would, Nick. Anyway, how hard could it be? You’ve got a way with machines, why don’t you try?”

“Oh no, I think it’s clear  _ you’re _ the machine charmer of this outfit. You know just how to push my buttons and pluck my wires. You go ahead and give her a whack, I promise not to get too jealous.”

Margot groaned in realization that he was right. She knew more about Nick’s wiring at this point than he did (moreover because there was an odd stubbornness in him to learn beyond a certain point), so who was to say she couldn’t figure out how to drive this vessel?

“Well...I think it’s obvious the keys go in first. Just like a car…” She started up the engine successfully...then eyed the lit up controls in utter confusion. “ _ And _ ...I have no idea what any of the rest of this does.”

Nick lounged on a nearby stack of crates with the latest edition of Publick Occurrences. 

“Seems they’re looking to appoint a new mayor in Diamond City...I wonder what Piper will find to be suspicious about them this time.”

“ _ You _ oughta run,” Margot said off-handedly as she continued to survey the control panel. “They already had one synth Mayor. At least you’re making no attempt to hide it.”

Nick chuckled and flipped the page. “I think I’ll stick to what I know. Politics isn’t really my baaa-  _ shit _ !”

Some combination of things she’d pressed had unexpectedly sent the boat racing backward from the dock...and Nick tumbling off the crate onto the boat deck.

“ _ Whoops _ . Well, at least I’ve got her moving!”

Nick stood up and walked over to replace Margot at the helm.

“Alright, this joke’s gone on long enough, time to swap out. You be navigator, I’ll be helmsman.”

“Thank god.” 

* * *

“Here it is,” Longfellow introduced wanly, as if he’d just led them to a sewage processing plant. “Acadia, the synth’s refuge. You looking for tune up, Metal Man? Here’s the place to get it.”

Nick scoffed out a laugh.

“I doubt anyone here has seen my kind of make up. I’m more robot than synth, really.”

Longfellow just smiled knowingly, the first time either of them had seen him express something other than his usual gruffness.

“I think you’re in for a surprise. Well. Take care now, both of you. You know where my cabin is, should you need another gun...or a stiff drink.”

He shambled off then and Margot found herself stuck between asking him to clarify what he meant by ‘a surprise’ and if he’d be alright going back through the fog on his own. She decided since he’d been the right man for the job to lead them, he’d be just as suited to going back without them. And as for the surprise, well...maybe he was just pulling their legs. Maybe he meant the gen-3 synths here were more versed on the anatomy of gen-2s and even prototypes than one may have thought.

“A synth refuge...you think the Railroad knows about this?” Margot asked Nick, low enough so that only he could hear among the synths that milled around the property.

“If they do they never said anything about it to me.”

“Me neither, not even so much as a vague mention...so...what do you think? Kind of exciting a place like this exists...”

She didn’t think it was a misplaced suggestion. As much as he separated himself from the rest he still was a synth at heart, he still had the means to relate to a whole community of them if he’d allow himself...or, perhaps, if _ they _ would.  

But, as she had intuited, he just shrugged, unimpressed.

“I suppose it’s a comfort to know they’ve got a place to be safe. Still. I doubt someone like me is going to be very welcome beyond asking the essential questions for the case. If it’s all the same to you, let’s just make this quick.”

Margot nodded and moved on through the nearest entrance. She wouldn’t say so aloud, but she was sad for him. Maybe it  _ was _ too much to ask him to try to relate to a group that were essentially human in every aspect that mattered. Nick was, after all, closer to the more mechanical, to the less developed gen 1 and gen 2’s in appearance, the kind of Institute creation even many Synths saw as beneath humanity. Most assumed as much before getting to know him.

Nick would always be alone in what he was, they both knew that, just as she would always be alone in being the only survivor to emerge from cryogenic storage, the only prewar-era relic that hadn’t faced the 200 years of strife prior.

In the sense of being misfits displaced out of time, they could relate to each other. It would have to be enough.

* * *

“You know, when I first climbed this mountain, above the fog, I thought to myself: now here is a metaphor worth taking in.”

Margot stopped dead in her tracks, her gun almost falling to the floor from her slacked grip. She might have mistook the synth before her for Nick, if not for all the tubes and wires protruding out of him, if not for the lack of the glowing yellow eyes she’d come to treasure so dearly. He most certainly wasn’t like the mechanical sentry and servant synths that guarded the Institute, she knew that in her gut.

He was like Nick in spirit. And yet...not. Could he have been another protoype…? Was it at all possible Nick wasn’t the only one?

“As long as you are in Acadia, Synth kind welcomes you...so long as you welcome us.”

“I...don’t think that’ll be a problem.” Margot hadn’t meant to say it aloud.

“Come again?”

“ _ Sorry _ , excuse me. Sir, I’m Detective Margot Dupont. My partner and I have come looking for a young woman- Kasumi Nakano. She recently went missing from the Commonwealth. Our trail has led us to Acadia.”

“Your partner…?” the Synth was confused until Nick stepped out of the shadows. Margot had been meaning to get a read on how he felt about seeing this.

“We’re not answering any questions until you play straight with us,” Nick said, stepping in front of her. His tone was mysteriously defensive given they hadn’t even established the other Synth as a reasonable suspect. “Just who the hell are you? There’s only one synth with that kind of face and a mind of his own, and I only see him when I look in a mirror.”

“Nick…?” the other Synth’s face filled with disbelief. “It...it can’t be you…”

“Don’t give me that. What are you trying to pull? I’ve never seen you before in my life!”

Margot sidled closer to Nick, unsure if there was anything she could say or do to diffuse the tension of whatever was going on here other than to remind him she was here, he wasn’t alone. Often, that was more than sufficient.

“Please,” the other Synth said, clearly addressing Margot now, as if appealing to whatever emotional leverage he must have ascertained she’d had. “I can explain everything, if you’re willing to give me a chance…”

She moved to stand beside Nick and looked to the other Synth with more than just surface level evaluation. She couldn’t read him yet and that unsettled her...but what choice did they have? She knew if it was up to Nick he’d probably turn tail and find another way of continuing the case without exploring whatever... _ this _ was between them. Maybe he was entitled to that.

But she had to know. She suspected Nick did as well.

“Okay. I’m listening.”

“Let me tell you what I know and you can judge for yourself.”

The Synth introduced himself as DiMA and then explained their history, how he and Nick had been the only two prototype synths created that were allowed to develop independent thoughts and feelings. He explained how while he had been allowed to develop a personality through his own experiences, Nick had been infused with an entire, preexisting personality and it had been traumatic. That much of Nick’s history Margot was already aware of.

She was not aware, however, that he had a Synth brother, one that had loved and taken pity on him and helped him escape the Institute. He  _ hadn’t _ been tossed out as garbage after all.

The thought that someone had cared for Nick as she did made her heart swell and tears build in her eyes. For whatever DiMA turned out to be, if he was telling the truth about his history with Nick, Margot didn’t think she’d ever find it in herself to hate him.    

Nick argued that he would’ve remembered this. DiMA pointed out that only so much memory could be stored in a prototype brain and Margot could practically feel his confidence clatter to the ground beside her. Nick never liked learning of his limitations as a synth, even less so now.

“I’ve heard  _ enough _ ,” Nick hissed, a darkness there Margot hadn’t heard before. He took her arm then and whispered privately, “I think you and I need to talk about this. Maybe not now though…”

To her, there was a desperation to his voice, a wavering that wouldn’t be present for anyone else. It was too vulnerable and intimate of an admission to make to anyone that wasn’t Margot.

“We’ll talk later,” she assured before turning back to DiMA. “Let’s focus on our original priority. Miss Nakano- have you seen her, DiMA? Any leads would be appreciated.”

DiMA ignored her at first to say to Nick,

“I don’t need you to believe me. I’m just glad to see you again. Whenever you’re ready, I’ll be here.”

* * *

They’d found Kasumi in the basement of Acadia, unharmed and in one piece aside from the fact that she was convinced she was a synth. What Margot was sure Nick had been hoping would be the brief wrap up of a confusing and upsetting case turned into so much more; Kasumi didn’t want to leave until her suspicions about DiMA had been either confirmed or denied. In truth she didn’t want to leave at all, but Margot felt they might have a better chance of convincing her if they were to satisfy her curiosity.

Nick remained suspiciously silent until they settled down for the night, in a dank and musty room in The Last Plank. It would be a night of listening to drunks occasionally shout or stumble around downstairs but that was the last thing on Margot’s mind.

“Nick…” she said from where she’d already made herself comfortable in bed. Nick was doing his usual tactic of distraction and evasion as he looked over another case at the desk. “Nick, are we going to talk about what happened or not?”

She wouldn’t normally push him to talk like this, but he’d suggested it on his own back in Acadia. She knew he had thoughts he needed to suss through, things that needed to be bounced off of someone else. If he wasn’t ready all he needed to do was say so and she’d respect it.

Besides, it was starting to look like the case might depend on it and she knew he’d appreciate that.

Even so, she twirled her flange nut wedding ring around her finger out of nervousness, unsure how he’d respond. She didn’t want to upset him further than he must have already been.

“You mean DiMA,” he said with a sigh, closing the file in front of him. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to think. I mean, could he be...is it even possible that he’s... _ family _ …? How would that work?”

Margot couldn’t help but get out of bed, regardless of how comfy and warm she was under the blankets, and come stand next to him, place a concerned hand on his shoulder.

“You okay, Valentine? This is a lot to take in.”

He put his hand over hers and squeezed it as she’d done in Acadia.

“I’ll keep, don’t worry. I’ve just got to figure this out.”

She moved to wrap her arms around his shoulders, hug him sleepily from behind while nestling her chin into the slope of his neck.

“I don’t know what to think either,” she admitted, thumbing the fabric of his tie. “But if it’s true that he helped you escape...that means a hell of a lot. That means someone loved you then, Nick. You weren’t just garbage. I suppose...that’s the sort of thing I’d  _ like _ to believe is true.”

He sighed and leaned back into her. She could hear the gears working in his head. His body as a whole always hummed a bit more when he was processing information like this. 

“I never thought of it before. Never occurred to me someone would give a damn.”

Margot kissed his cheek, unsure of what to say in response. It would be nice if it were true and she  _ did _ , more than anything, want to believe it was...but being that they were detectives (and one former attorney) evidence was crucial before coming to any kind of conclusion.

For this reason it wasn’t surprising when he suggested they look for it.

“There  _ has _ to be something around here that can tell us what really happened between me and DiMA. No idea what it would be, but...if we could just keep an eye out…”

Margot chuckled in her throat at the fact that he’d think he needed to ask.

“ _ Of course _ we will. You see? Maybe there’s good reason to stay on the island a bit longer after all.”

* * *

“I don’t mean to pry, but...I wonder if I might ask you a personal question.”

Margot was fairly certain whatever question of DiMA’s that would follow would be very prying indeed. Maybe if it had been anyone else she’d just met the answer would’ve been, ‘No, no you may not’, but DiMA had made a very favorable first impression on her by admitting to have saved the one she loved from the Institute. In fact, there was really no better way to get on Margot’s good side from the get go, so  _ what the hell _ . She nodded her agreement.

“The bond between you and Nick...it goes beyond just that of a professional nature. I could read it on you both from the start.”

Margot laughed. That probably explained why he had appealed to her first to give him a chance.

“That’s very perceptive of you. I guess it runs in the family, huh? Still...not quite a question.”

“I’d like to know...beyond your work, what  _ is _ the nature of your relationship? I didn’t think Nick would tell me.”

Margot wouldn’t say so aloud, but DiMA was right about that too.

“I guess you could say I wear a lot of hats in Nick Valentine’s life; wife, best friend, confidant...occasional tailor and washwoman. Mechanic and electrician at times, too, it comes with the territory of being married to an old bot. Everything but personal assistant, really- we have Ellie Perkins for that and I’m terrible with organization.”

She was vaguely aware of Faraday’s eyes on her, listening intently to what she was saying from where he seemed to be working on reports. Thinking that was odd, she met his gaze. He looked away just as quickly, as if it hadn’t happened in the first place.

“ _ Oh _ . I see…!” DiMA seemed just as awed as he had been when Nick first showed his face. “I could sense you were close, but I had no idea… _ married _ . Hm.”

“We don’t make it public to just anyone,” she explained. “ _ Especially _ when we’re working on a case. People have a tendency to assume things. Better to keep it professional.”

“No, of course, I understand, it’s just...it never occurred to me a prototype synth would have...what was required to be in a relationship of that nature.”

Margot had already gathered from continued conversation with him that DiMA didn’t have much of a filter; he was more of the speak his mind, apologize later sort. She rather admired that in a way, even if at times it would make her feel uncomfortable. First, it had been his reservations about the Railroad, now it was his assumption about Nick’s...attributes. But then again, he would know, wouldn’t he?

“We make do, DiMA. I promise you that.”

“Oh, I...I don’t just mean anatomically. There are many things humans and humanized synths require in a relationship that intimate that Nick and I are lacking...so I  _ thought _ .”

If Nick was within earshot and not insisting to be outside with a cigarette (one too many forward suggestions from DiMA to come live in Acadia would do that) he’d have been pulling her away already. This really was the essence of too much information.

“I certainly don’t find myself wanting for anything, if that’s of any help to your consideration...in any case, we’ve got to be off to the Nucleus.”

Though she didn’t really know what to expect (what else was new?) she looked forward to rifling through DiMA’s memories for anything that might give clarity on what had happened with him and Nick at the Institute (not to mention distance herself from this conversation). Nick was similarly eager, though he did his best to hide the fact.

“Just one moment,” DiMA halted her. “I had hoped I might be able to ask something else of you. Do you-...do you trust me, Margot?”

She found herself surprisingly  _ not _ caught off guard by the question, more than certain of how to answer.

“If you what you say is true about your history with Nick...then yes. That is, I  _ want _ to trust you.”

“Then...perhaps you might speak favorably of me to Nick. If it’s not too much to ask. I don’t want to force your hand or his, but it’s been such a boon to my spirit to see him again. I would wish that he’d give me a chance. I don’t mean him any harm, I don’t ask anything of him other than to see me as his equal.”

Margot smiled at him sympathetically.

“I understand...but I won’t coerce him into anything. I never have before, and I never will. To be honest with you, you’ve a much better chance of earning his favor once we prove that your story is true beyond a shadow of doubt. I think...Nick  _ wants _ to trust you too. He’s been around a long time believing he’s the only one of his kind. It breaks his heart over and over again that he’s alone in what he is. He just...doesn’t trust easily. I’m sure you can guess why. Still...to know that there’s someone he can trust that knows what it’s like to be him, well...I’m sure he’d highly treasure a relationship like that. In time.”

“You’re right, of course. I hope you’ll forgive my eagerness. You must navigate the situation as you see fit.”

She could see how crestfallen this made him, perhaps convinced in his own way that she didn’t care. Nothing could’ve been further from the truth. 

“DiMA, I’ll-...Nick knows  _ my _ opinion on you thus far. I believe in my heart that you saved him. You’ll always have my gratitude and admiration for that. I hope that means something.”

He brightened a little.

“ _ Thank you _ . It does.”

* * *

Margot stood up from the console, feeling a bit dizzy and more brain-fried than ever before. Rifling through Kellogg’s memories had been weird, but it was nothing like navigating the computer interface of DiMA’s. God forbid she  _ ever _ had to do that again.

It wasn’t a futile exercise though, by any means. She and Nick now had in their power the means to control the future of the island. Margot also had the truth of DiMA and Nick’s prior acquaintance. She  _ also _ had...well...something a little disturbing, something that suggested there might be a part of DiMA that was less than the kind, sage-like Synth on the mountain she had hoped he would be.

But it was inconclusive, a sound file that neither confirmed nor denied what he might have done to achieve his ends. She wouldn’t think too hard on it. Surely it had been like the kill-switch to the fog condensers, an option he’d considered but banished away before taking any drastic action.  _ Surely _ .

Innocent until proven guilty. She had no reason to think he was anything but the former.

Nick stood quickly from where he’d been waiting for her near the console. There was an eager expectation in his eyes, a question she knew he wouldn’t ask of his own volition.

“I found something,” she said. “It’ll lay to rest your suspicions, but...as with everything, it’s a lot to take in. Are you sure you’re ready for this, Nick?”

He nodded without hesitation.

“Yeah. Gotta admit the possibility that DiMA is right, and I really don’t remember him, is unsettling...but I need to know the truth.”

It had been unsettling to them both, as was any of the mystery that surrounded Nick’s form. Like he’d say so many times, he didn’t come with an instruction manual. Even with the two of them, uncertainty had a way of breeding fear.

Still, he listened at the expense of becoming highly aware of the limitations in his memory. He heard what she had, the sound of their struggle as DiMA did what he could to help a confused and volatile Nick escape captivity.

Nick all but dropped back into the chair he’d been sitting in before.

“God...DiMA really did help me escape the Institute. I wasn’t just tossed out with the garbage…?” he looked up to her with wide eyes, begging explanations that she wasn’t sure she had. “I must have still been in a haze from one of the Institute’s experiments on me. Did I really attack him? Did he really knock the daylights out of me and leave me for dead?”

He was assuming a lot, becoming more frantic by the minute. Margot knelt down beside him and placed a comforting hand on his knee.

“Take it easy, Valentine. People forget things...especially after something traumatic like what happened between you and DiMA.”

Nick sighed cathartically and ran a hand over his brow. Margot stayed where she was, squeezing his leg gently every now and then to remind, as ever, him she was here, he wasn’t alone.

“Yeah...yeah, you’re right…” he agreed. “Well...I wanted proof DiMA and I had history and I got it. Now I’ve just gotta figure out what to do…”

There was a beat and she could feel that tell-tale hum again, more prevalent than ever. It made sense. She couldn’t remember any decision that preceded this that would’ve been harder for him to make.

“Should I give him a chance, Margie? Try to accept him as my brother…? He might just be the only other prototype Synth that exists.”

She had to choose her words carefully. He was relying on her now and, to a lesser extent, so was DiMA. The reminder of that worrying sound file re-entered her mind. Was it worth mentioning to Nick? Doing so would very possibly catapult him the other direction, away from the first person that could relate to him in a way no one else could. And maybe it wouldn’t have even been worth it.

“I’d say that’s for you to decide. Do you  _ want _ a brother in your life?”

“And if I did, would I want DiMA to be that brother? I guess no one gets to choose their family, but when your family is built in a lab things get weird…”

Margot already knew what Nick wanted in his heart. He’d been more obvious about it than he probably would ever realized, at least to her. She pressed a kiss to his metal fingers.

“You already know the answer. You don’t need me to tell you.”

Nick chuckled softly and smiled down at her.

“Huh...maybe next time we swing by Acadia, I’ll try to be a little nicer to the old Synth. Make up for lost time…”

She didn’t need his invitation this time to help herself to a seat on his lap. He welcomed her up and held her close to his chest.

“Thank you, Margie,” he said after treating her to a long, lingering kiss. “I wouldn’t know the truth without you.”

* * *

Margot had been hoping to avoid the Vim! pop factory for so many reasons, the least of which had been the fact that she hated when anyone said Vim was better than Nuka Cola- it  _ wasn’t _ , dammit. She had been hoping to avoid it because it was the exact location of DiMA’s secret medical facility, the place that would confirm or deny the suspicions churning her gut. This was made all the more difficult after Nick apologized to DiMA, after they’d been given a chance to talk and relate and accept each other as friends.

Nick downplayed it, but she could tell how happy he was to not be alone in this way anymore. He was no longer the only prototype synth, no longer alone in understanding what it meant to be what he was.

She didn’t know what would happen if something incriminating were to come out about DiMA, if Nick knew that she’d suspected him and hadn’t said anything while letting them grow close. It was a guilt that weighed on her, regardless of the outcome.

It was for this reason that, rather than satisfy herself simply with the pump regulator for Sister Mai, Margot decided she needed to investigate further, if only to put her mind at ease. Surely there was nothing DiMA could’ve done that would be  _ that _ horrible. He was not evil, no one that had selflessly loved and helped Nick escape to the Commonwealth could be.

“Nick, there’s something else down here I’ve been meaning to take a look at it. I accessed the coordinates while in DiMA’s memories.”

“Sure. Might as well now that we’ve cleared out the Mutant horde.”

He was completely unsuspecting; that only made the guilt harder to bear.

She led them downstairs, down to the basement as per the directions, her heart beating ever faster with increasing worry that what they’d find down here would shatter their perceptions of DiMA completely. That fear was not unfounded.

“The hell is this place…?” Nick asked no one in particular as he headed in the direction of a back entryway. Margot was vaguely aware of the patch of concrete-less, upturned earth in the middle of the room, filing it away to look at later.

Stranger still, as soon they approached the entrance to the last door in the basement the A.I. unit unlocked the door simply because Nick was a prototype synth. That did nothing to assuage Margot’s concerns.

“How does it know who I am? I’ve never been here before!” Before she could think up a suggestion Nick provided, “This must be DiMA’s handiwork...I suppose he never counted on another of his kind being on the island. Question is, what would he need to keep locked up in the first place?”

True to as the interface had described, it was a medical facility- albeit a crude one. Signs of recent medical procedures and surgery were found in the discarded bloody rags, the scalpels,the bone shavers, blood bags, the mysterious X-Rays hung up on the wall.

“ _ What _ are we looking at here…? Why is DiMA performing medical procedures? And why in  _ secret _ ?”

“I...I don’t know, Nick…”

That much was true, Margot didn’t really know. Maybe if there wasn’t so much at stake, maybe if Nick’s voice hadn’t gotten that bitter, suspicious edge to it, maybe if she didn’t wish so badly that this wasn’t what it looked like, she’d have been able to make a better deduction. In her gut, she  _ knew _ what it was.

Nick turned back and headed for the upturned earth, having apparently also taken a casual notice of it when they entered the room. His interest was far more than casual now.

“Something tells me the answer is just under here. Come on, let’s dig.”

Conveniently, (and further unsettling) there were shovels leaning up against old equipment off in the corner. Margot dug along with Nick, frantic in her movements, determined to get to the bottom of all of this and prove that it all looked much worse than it actually was.

But it was then that they uncovered a coffin. Nick just dropped his shovel and stared at it, wordless. Margot continued, brushing off the excess dirt, prying open the lid, exposing the skeletal remains within.

“Isn’t this-...?” Nick picked up and opened the locket that lay beside the skull. “That woman from Far Harbor, Captain Avery.”

Margot was more interested in the holotape that rested alongside the arm, even as she knew it might be the very thing that condemned DiMA for good.

“I’m sure this’ll explain everything…” she assured with a hard swallow, popping it into her Pip Boy, praying there was a logical explanation within.

“ _ Is it...is it going to be painful…? _ ”  It was the voice of a pained and frightened sounding woman. Then, DiMA’s in response,  _ “Yes...it’s going be like having everything you are ripped out and replaced with something else...someone else.” _

_ “I’m ready. I just...wish I could say goodbye to everyone.” _

_ “No one else can know. This isn’t just about infiltrating Far Harbor, it’s about becoming the human that synths drawn here need to meet; reasonable, willing to accept them as just another living thing. No greater or lesser than humanity itself. You’ll be part of the bridge between our two worlds. That all vanishes the moment anyone discovers it’s been manufactured...that you’re a synth.” _

“ _ Did she have to die? The woman I’m replacing? God...she looks so peaceful lying there…” _

_ “Don’t. Please. That blood is on my hands. Not yours…” _

Margot felt as if her stomach had dropped out of her. How could she have been so obtuse?

Because she  _ wanted _ to be, she told herself. She  _ wanted _ to believe DiMA was something he wasn’t. 

“ _ Dammit _ ,” Nick cursed, slipping his hat off at a loss of anything else to do. “Damn it all…”

He sounded broken in a way she hadn’t heard before. She couldn’t keep this up, she had to be upfront with him. The fact that she hadn’t been from the start was sin enough.

“Nick, I’m so sorry...when I heard about this place in DiMA’s memories I had  _ no _ idea-”

“No- wait...you  _ knew _ ?”

“No! No, not about all of this. There was a-...there was a mention of this place. It was vague, inconclusive-”

“But worrisome enough to send you down here…! Apparently not enough to tell me before I went and made a fool of myself. I was  _ this  _ close to calling that murderer my brother, Margie!”

Her eyes burned with tears, her heart beat at a frantic pace. She had to fix this, there  _ had _ to be a way.

“ _ Nick _ ...Nick, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you.”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t,” he all but spat. “You’ve always given it to me straight. I trusted you more than anyone. I’m never surprised when someone I’ve just met turns out to be a liar, but you...? I thought I knew you…!”

“Nick, just...listen to me, please. I didn’t  _ want  _ to suspect him. Never in a million years did I want to believe DiMA would do something like this. You’ve finally met someone like you, someone that had loved and cared for you before anyone else could...does that mean nothing now?”

He glared at her, as if she was nothing more than some two-bit raider that had crossed his path. It tore her up. She wished he’d just shoot her then and get it over with.

Nick moved away, back towards the elevator. Margot knew she shouldn’t, but she called after him in her desperation,

“Would it mean  _ anything _ if he had no other choice? It was a selectively forgotten memory. That has to mean to guilt was too much for him to bear-”

“He should’ve thought of that before carrying on the Institute’s legacy,” Nick scoffed. “Look, we got what Kasumi was looking for. Let’s pass on the information, get her to see reason and head home. Synth or not, she’s better off away from this charlatan’s web.”

She could do nothing but follow suit, assured in her fear that she had done a terrible disservice to Nick and their marriage as a whole. In trying to do what was right, in attempting to give everyone a chance, she had only made things worse. She should have told him. For better or for worse, she  _ should _ have. There was no getting around that.

* * *

"Oh my god...that poor woman. Did I really…?”

Margot had no choice but to believe DiMA was genuine in his surprise. The evidence that he had truly let this memory go, either due to guilt or in the interest of keeping the secret, was irrefutable. She didn’t have the same defense for herself.

“You  _ did _ ,” Nick said, gruffly. He had wanted to talk to Kasumi first and wrap this whole thing up, never even once gracing DiMA’s doorstep again. Margot had somehow managed to convince him otherwise, in the interest of them being Detectives and needing to hear the other side of the story. It was only fair.

DiMA looked to Nick with sad eyes.

“I’m sorry, Nick...I’m certain this is the last thing you’d want in a brother. A murderer. I  _ am _ a murderer.”

“At least you had a good excuse for not telling me off the bat...” Nick shot a sweeping glare at Margot that she didn’t need to see to feel.

It was difficult to impossible, but she knew she needed to stay focused on the bigger picture rather than her own personal life issues.

“If this comes out it could destroy the island,” she warned. “Far Harbor won’t have anything standing in their way. They’ll come for you, DiMA, and then, no doubt, the Children of Atom. Did that risk never occur to you?”

“I can only assume it did...but you understand, Margot- I’m sure, better than anyone else. Difficult decisions have to be made sometimes in the interest of protecting the majority.”  

“Well, best of luck with that,” Nick said, moving over to corral Margot back to his side. “We’re closing this case and we’re leaving. I’ve had enough of this place and I’ve had enough of  _ you _ . And I’m sure as soon as she hears about what kind of bot you  _ really _ are, Kasumi will feel the same.”  

Margot looked pleadingly at Nick. It wasn’t like them to put their personal matters on display, but she was running out of options.  

“We can’t leave this entire island to fend for itself,” she argued, though her voice was soft as she knew she didn’t have much right to be anything else. “It’s not like us, Nick. We’re here to make the world a better place, remember?”

Nick turned away.

“I don’t even know what  _ we _ are anymore. The woman I married wouldn’t have hidden the truth from me about  _ anything _ .”

There was an uncomfortable silence that blanketed the vicinity now, and anyone who was close enough to hear the conversation between them.

Margot choked back tears, knowing full-well she had no right to be sad even as her heart was breaking.  _ She _ had done this.

“For what it’s worth, I did it because I love you, Nick. I didn’t do it to hurt you. I wanted you to have your family. I wanted you to be happy.”

“I  _ was  _ happy! You, Shaun and Ellie, that’s all the family I needed. Now, I’m not sure I even have that!”

He was walking away now, back towards the basement to finish what they had originally come here to do. She knew the least she could’ve done at this point was help him see it through...give him a chance to leave, if that’s what he wanted.

DiMA’s voice caused her to hesitate.

“I am  _ so _ sorry,” he said. She believed him. “I feel as if I’ve driven a wedge between you both. Had I known I had a secret of this nature-”

“No, DiMA. This is  _ my _ fault. I made...a very foolish mistake in trying to do what was right.”

“I suppose, in that respect, we understand each other well. You are right about one thing, however; this  _ needs _ to be fixed. Things have escalated to a boiling point. The synth I’ve placed in Far Harbor can do nothing to stop the Children of Atom and High Confessor Tektus’ plans.”

“It sounds as if you’ve got an idea in mind already.”

“Indeed, I do.”

* * *

 

“You need to go home, Kasumi,” Margot said, her hand on the young woman’s shoulder, their eyes locked. She knew this might be her only chance to convince her. “This could all get very ugly,  _ very _ quickly. I never thought I’d say this, but...you’re much safer in the Commonwealth, with your family.”

Kasumi sighed but seemed moreover convinced that Margot was right. She agreed that it was time to rejoin her parents and do the selfless thing of allowing them to have their daughter back, whether or not she was a synth.

“I’ll head back to Far Harbor then, collect the boat and be on my way.”

“I think Nick and I would feel better if you had a chaperone or two to get you through the fog. Give us a second?”

Kasumi nodded and headed back up the stairs, leaving Nick and Margot alone in the basement with the crushing discomfort of their personal turmoil. The road seemed to be forked and Margot honestly didn’t know what path they were going to take from here. She had the sinking feeling it was irreversible, whatever the outcome may be.

“Well, there you have it. Case closed, we accomplished what we came here for. I’m sure Kasmui won’t mind giving you a ride back to Commonwealth. It’s the least she can do for our trouble.”

Nick stilled and it surprised her. She had thought he’d be satisfied.

“You’re not coming back then,” he said, not so much a question as a statement of the obvious.

“No. Not yet, anyway. I’ve got a job to finish here.”

There was a beat as Nick seemed to be contemplating his next choice of words. Even now, she didn’t rush him.

“I hesitate to ask how you plan to finish said job.”

“DiMA’s plan, not mine...and you’re not going to like it.”

Nick sighed, shoved his hands in the pockets of his trenchcoat and paced aimlessly to the side, as if overcome with something like frustration, helplessness and desperation all at once.

“Oh, don’t tell me. Another synth swap? Are you _ serious _ , Margie?”

She looked down shamefully at the floor for just a moment, reminding herself that while it wasn’t an honorable plan it was the only one they had and the best for ensuring island-wide peace.

“Tektus, this time...but he  _ is _ dangerous, Nick. As you say...we’d be doing the world a service.”

“It’s no better than the Institute,” he shook his head. “You’re doing  _ exactly _ what you turned on your son to stop. How does this make any goddamn sense to you?”

“Because it’s not for a science experiment. Because it’s not some selfish exercise, it’s for the better of  _ everyone _ on this island. You want to come clean to Far Harbor about what happened to Captain Avery? Go ahead, if that’s what you think is right. Go ahead, and I’ll watch from this mountain as they ascend on and kill every last innocent synth in here. I’ll watch as the Children of Atom detonate their missile and take out everyone else. Or maybe I could just take them out myself? I have the launch key, after all. Granted, it’ll kill every innocent person that just wanted to worship in peace, but at least it’ll be different from the Institute, right?”

She’d never seen Nick this angry, nor this lost for words. He didn’t have a good argument and yet he wanted one so bad, she could tell.  

“This island’s changed you,” he said.

She pulled back, took a breath.

“I was wrong to keep my suspicions from you, Nick...but it doesn’t make me a different person. I’m still your wife, your partner, the woman who loves you with all her heart...and what I did, I did out of love for you, no matter how stupid it was. I hope, in the big scheme of things, that’ll mean something. For now, I’ve got to do what I can for the island, if only to show you I’m still the person you know me to be.”

Nick turned away from her and she knew he’d given his answer in that move alone.

“I can’t be part of this.”

That was that, there was no convincing him otherwise. She just didn’t know if he was talking about  _ them _ or DiMA’s plan or both at once.

“I understand. I’ll see you back in the Commonwealth, then. Maybe you’ll find it in your heart to have a longer discussion about this, when there’s time.”

Nick said nothing. He turned up the collar of his trenchcoat and left to go meet Kasumi outside of Acadia.

* * *

With every bit of hesitation in the world, Margot carried out the plan to meet High Confessor Tektus alone in the Command Center. It was what she did now, after all, lying and backstabbing...at least this time it stood to save a lot of lives. Still, it was never who she had hoped she’d become. This isn’t how she envisioned herself before the bombs dropped. Maybe it was just an unavoidable consequence of the world she now found herself in.

She knew Nick had admired her from the start because she hadn’t succumbed. She’d kept her optimism, honesty and selflessness even in the thick of the wasteland. Maybe it could only last so long.

She couldn’t think of Nick now, as much as she wanted to, as much as she hoped things were still repairable. Her focus needed to be on the High Confessor, taking him out quickly and quietly so that no one would hear or suspect. She already had the benefit of being far enough away in the tunnels from the Nucleus.

_ God _ . She was becoming Kellogg, wasn’t she? Even without the Institute...a merc. She kept telling herself she did this for the benefit of thousands of people...isn’t that how the Institute justified themselves too? Was she really any different?

The realization almost made her turn back, but she knew she couldn’t now. The wheels had been set in motion long before she worked her way down through the command center to meet the High Confessor.

“Ah, there you are, my child!”

Tetkus stood alone, vulnerable.  _ This _ was how much he trusted her. Even with someone as corrupt and malignant as Tektus, it frightened her just how easy she could inspire faith, just how easy it had become for her to take advantage of it.

“Are you certain you weren’t followed, High Confessor?”

“No, you needn’t worry. There are no spies of Martin’s down here, we can speak in confidence.”

Margot took a deep breath and unholstered her gun, pointing it directly at Tektus. She watched his face fall and felt her stomach go with it.

“DiMA sends his regards,” she said, her voice wavering despite herself.

“DiMA…? You... _ traitorous- _ …!”

The plan was to kill him then, of course, to pull the trigger and be done with it...but she didn’t. Maybe her desire and intention to go through with it had been lessened with her realization about the Institute. Either way, it gave Tektus enough of a window to disarm and throw her up against the wall in a chokehold.

“Did you  _ really  _ think you’d betray the High Confessor and get away unscathed?” he hissed, tightening his grip around her throat so she could do nothing but croak and gasp in reply. “I admit, you had me fooled. You had me believing you were a loyal child of Atom...I see now that you were a test of  _ my _ faith. All the more reason to make an example of you, a punishment that will be far more excruciating than any that has come before. You do not deserve the mercy of an execution at gunpoint, oh no...you will  _ suffer _ . The Children will watch you be torn, limb from limb! ”

He tightened his grip even harder now, to the point where she was no longer able to breathe. He pressed her arms into the wall, no doubt causing bruises even through the thick fabric of reinforced Silver Shroud coat. Perhaps she could have fought against him and won...but something strong inside of her felt she didn’t have the right.

“I must thank you for this opportunity,” he cackled softly. “When your head is hanging from the rafters  _ never again _ will anyone make the mistake of standing in the Children’s way. The island will be ours as was always intended!”

“Not if I have anything to do with it.”

She wondered if she had really heard Nick’s voice or if she had just imagined it as her vision grew black. Either way, she was dropped suddenly to the ground, Tektus growled, the shot of a gun followed along with the heavy thump of a body dropping to the floor.

Hands were on her then, pulling her from the ground. One of them was indisputably metal.

“You okay, kid?”

Margot was looking up into the familiar yellow eyes of her husband as metal fingers gently brushed her hair from her face.  

“Oh, Nick…” she sighed, unable to verbalize much else as she caught her breath. “You’re-....”

“I’m here...and Tektus is gone. It’s done.”

She used what strength she had left to sit up and wrap her arms around him, press her face into his shoulder.

“I’m so sorry…” she whimpered. “I’m so, so sorry...you were right. I was wrong. DiMA was wrong. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t kill him…”

“Was wondering how he’d been able to corner you like that. I figured you must not have been too sincere, that’s the only advantage a scrawny weasel like him would’ve had over you.”

She laughed sadly, despite herself. Nick held her closer and caressed her back and arms.

“Truth is, _ I  _ was wrong,” he said after a time. “This isn’t the first time we’ve had to make an impossible decision...I’m sure it won’t be the last. What was I expecting you to do? Leave everyone to fend for themselves? That’s not us. That’s more in line with the Institute than what you and DiMA had resolved to do.”

That thought made her reconsider her position. Maybe she wasn’t as bad as Kellogg or Father or the Institute had been; maybe it was, after all, just a horrible decision at a lack of anything else to do. This was not a widespread sacrifice of millions for the sake of an experiment, for the sake of a the select few, but a sacrifice (or, rather, mercy killing) and synth swap of one extremely volatile man, the last piece the thousands of innocent people on the island needed to get as close as they could to cohesion.

It was a horrible decision, nonetheless, one they had no choice but to live with. There were some aspects of the post-war environment that not even Nick and Margot could escape.

“Come on,” Nick said, helping Margot to her feet. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my time investigating it’s that we’ve got to get rid of the evidence quick or all of this was for nothing.”

“Alright. I’ll get under the arms if you get the ankles.”

* * *

Somehow, despite all odds and what Nick and Margot had come to expect of the world they inhabited, everything fell into place after that. The new High Confessor Tektus took his place without question or argument, issued his sermon that Atom had been clear on the matter of peace with their island inhabitants going forward. The Children were keen to believe and obey.

They bid a fond farewell to DiMA, promising to visit again soon, maybe even bring him around to Diamond City someday. He was, after all, family now. He seemed flattered and intrigued at the thought; Faraday was cagey and concerned.

Kasumi made her way home safely and Nick and Margot were thanked and paid for their efforts. Kenji even attempted to offer them some of his father’s old weaponry and they humbly declined. It was grandpa’s, it belonged with his family.

They made their way back across the beach to the Commonwealth, hand-in-hand, their marriage even stronger because of what had happened on the island. Margot swore never to keep anything from Nick, for any reason, and though he had come to understand and respect why she did in the first place, he appreciated the promise.

Some time later it was New Year’s Eve and there was no better place to be than Diamond City. Nick couldn’t remember any holiday celebrated in the Commonwealth with  _ this _ much enthusiasm, but this was the first time in most of their lives that there was good reason to do so; the Institute and the Brotherhood were  _ gone _ , the fear of kidnapping and replacement had diminished greatly, and the Commonwealth found a means of protection in the ever growing, community-driven Minutemen. That, plus free drinks courtesy of the brothers Bobrov, meant a party to rival all parties.

And at the center of it all, fittingly, was Margot. It was to her that all of them owed their newfound safety and peace of mind. Oh, Nick was aware he’d had a hand in it, she reminded him of the fact time and time again, but he was under no delusion that he’d have gone out and done all of this on his own, not without her.

She deserved a toast, he decided, and what better time to do it than a handful of minutes from midnight on New Year’s Eve?

An impromptu stand was made for him out of the excess suitcases near Fallons and a hearty whoop from Piper and Nat got the drunken throng to quiet down and pay attention. 

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’ll make this short and sweet, I know everyone wants to get back to merrymaking- and so you should. We’ve a lot to be thankful for tonight...and absolutely none of it would’ve been possible without the woman sitting over there at Takahashi’s. Many of you know her as Detective Dupont, the Vault Dweller stranger that came out of nowhere and made our lives into something we never thought they could be. Me, I’m lucky enough to know her as my wife and partner. Truth is, she continues to save me everyday from the monotony that would’ve been my life if I’d never met her. She encourages me to see myself as  _ she _ sees me; not just a bot, not just a relic from the past, but as me...for everything I am. I don’t think any of us will be able to repay all that she’s done...it’s just our luck that Margie isn’t the type of person to ask for it.”

There was a harder laugh than would’ve been warranted given how much people had been drinking, but all Nick cared about was the warm smile on Margot’s face.

“To Margot! To the Vault Dweller!” said the new Mayor, Geneva Forsythe, to which everyone agreed with varying levels of cheering.

Margot showed her gratitude to him with a lingering hug and kiss as soon as she had worked her way through the crowd. Shaun followed to remind them,

“Look, it’s midnight! Nick, can you do it, please? Please?”

“You  _ did _ promise,” Margot smirked. “Also it took quite an effort to haul this thing out and get her tuned up.”

“You kidding?” Nick chuckled, patting Shaun on the back. “I wouldn’t miss a chance to tickle the ivories again for anything in the world. Let’s see, it’s only been a couple hundred years…”

Shaun sat beside him on the piano chair, fascinated to see how an instrument would work, Margot stood behind, ready to accompany as had been planned, and everyone else waited with bated breath to hear the performance. Music-making wasn’t as common as it probably should have been in the Commonwealth; this would be the first time many of them would hear music that wasn’t from Diamond City radio.

Nick played the first few notes and, together, he and Margot sang,

 

_ Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? _

_ Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne _

 

_ For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne _

_ We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne _

 

In time, the throng of Diamond City merrymakers joined in as best they could, along with an unexpected, gentle snowfall. 

In the first time in two centuries, the Commonwealth was gifted with a perfect moment of peace. Nick and Margot could only hope it was a sign of things to come. 

  
  



End file.
